[The Smiler Incident 02/06/2015]

He was still there 2 hours later in the control room pushing the two buttons to launch the ride, so I guess he was an engineer moonlighting as a ride op then yes?

Yes. That's quite common.

[Project WC16 - New for 2016]

Merlin don't even own Thorpe Park (or for that matter Alton Towers nor Warwick Castle) they lease them from Nick Leslau.

That's not particularly pertinent to the way the park is operated. It's all down to freeing up cash and how assets are displayed on the balance sheet.

 

NP.